Andrew Cuomo Should Hire Michael Gove For The Cuomo Administration

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has shown himself to be the charter school governor here in NY State, cutting money to traditional public schools and sticking trad schools and unionized teachers with extra mandates even as he slings extra cash and power the way of the union-free charter schools and frees them from mandates and regulations. Cuomo ignores the vast majority of children in NY State, who attend traditional public schools, so that he can focus on the very small percentage that attend the non-union charters.

And what do you know, Michael Gove does the same thing in England:

Struggling free schools have been earmarked for special fast-track attention by the government because of the potential for serious political embarrassment for education secretary, Michael Gove, if they should fail, according to leaked documents seen by the Observer.

Marked "Official – Sensitive", the confidential papers warn that the "political ramifications of any more free schools being judged inadequate are very high and speedy intervention is essential".

Gove's flagship policy of allowing groups to set up schools outside the supervision of local education authorities has been the subject of a barrage of bad publicity in recent months. Four free schools have been declared inadequate by Sir Michael Wilshaw's Ofsted, with one of those, the Discovery New School in Crawley, West Sussex, closing down last week.

The leaked document shows that the Department for Education wants to tackle the problems at inadequate free schools before their failings are made public by Ofsted, at which point they can be used as political ammunition. It suggests that party political considerations are now driving education policy a year ahead of the general election, provoking one union leader to claim that the public would be "appalled".

...

Chris Keats, general secretary of the teachers' union, the NASUWT, said: "Parents and the public in general will be appalled. I have long said that Michael Gove is the secretary of state for free schools and academies, not a minister for education. This is what the government is focused on – and now it has been put in writing."

Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt said he was dismayed by the document and called for Gove to focus on "what really matters". He added: "This is more evidence that Michael Gove's exclusive focus is on a free school project for around 2% of pupils. We now know that because of the huge political embarrassment caused by damning Ofsted judgments of his flagship free schools, he is signalling that he wants even more resources dedicated to trying to save him further embarrassment."

Just 38 free schools out of the 174 opened so far have been Ofsted rated. Six are outstanding, 21 good, eight require improvement and four have been found inadequate.

Running education policy based on ideology and politics, pushing forth a free market philosophy no matter the consequences - that's Michael Gove in England and that's Sheriff Andy Cuomo here in New York State.

If Gove ever needs a gig after he finishes screwing with schools in England, I'm sure his good friend Rupert Murdoch will introduce him to Sheriff Andy Cuomo and Gove can pick up with destroying schools here in NY State.

That's what's known as education reformer accountability - it's called "failing upward."